Method and apparatus for manipulating content channels

ABSTRACT

An apparatus and method for creating channels dedicated to a particular type of content. The method includes acquiring seed content and using the seed content in the creation or updating of a content list. Additional content for the channel is acquired based on the common features of the content list.

This is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/433,862, filed Mar.29, 2012, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to a system and method of creatingchannels dedicated to particular types of desired content, therebyallowing a user a passive viewing experience.

2. Background Discussion

Generally, in broadcast television, there are channels dedicated toparticular types of content, such as ESPN for sports. The content shownis consistent and predictably dedicated to such content. Additionally,online viewing websites, such as YOUTUBE™, allow users to createchannels by selecting specific content, and suggest other specificcontent based on the user's viewing history. However, neither of theabove media creates channels consistently and predictably dedicated toparticular content.

SUMMARY

Content channels provide a very flexible way to help users find contentof interest to them in the vast array of selections available frommultiple services. A content channel makes it easier for users to findcontent of interest to them as Internet content libraries are quite vastand can be fragmented by service and category. This allows IPTV(Internet Protocol Television) viewing to be more passive as users willnot need to spend time between content playback searching for the nextpiece of content to play.

The construct of a content channel provides a way for a server toautomatically choose content assets (video, audio, still images or otherelectronic or digital media), which may be streaming or flat files. Thecontent asset may be provided to a user, such as displayed on auser-device, output using a speaker or other output mechanism, or storedat a storage location (local and/or remote) that the user can access andretrieve the content asset. The content asset chosen for a contentchannel may come from multiple services and providers. Typically acontent asset is a movie, recording, still image data, or otherelectronic representation. Content is typically meta-data, spokenutterance, keywords, lists, content channels, content assets, categoriesof content, pre-designated characters, Boolean search terms as well asdata that is used to identify or acquire content assets.

Embodiments of the present invention include a method to generatecontent channels that are seeded by content references. These contentreferences are used when determining what content is selected for aparticular content channel.

One embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method forcreating a content channel. The method includes accessing a firstcontent channel and cloning the first content channel to produce asecond content channel. The second content channel includes one or moreseeds of the first content channel. One or more content assets areselected from a pool of content assets based on similarity between thecontent assets and the one or more seeds. An indication of the selectedone or more content assets is presented to a user. One or more of theseeds of the second content channel are modified to produce secondcontent channel seeds.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to the methoddescribed above and also includes utilizing one or more of the secondcontent channel seeds to select additional content assets for the secondcontent channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the second content channel seeds includereferences to content assets that are not available to a user accessingthe second content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the references to content assets, whichare not available to a accessing the second content channel, are used toselect content assets for the second content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes establishing privacy rights,for a particular user, related to the first content channel forcontrolling the modification of the seed list.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes cloning the first contentchannel, to produce the second content channel, based on a change in theprivacy rights associated with the particular user. A second seed listis generated for use in the second content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the second content channel has the samecriteria for selecting content as the first content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the cloning step further includescopying a history of the first content channel copied to the secondcontent channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes modifying the second contentchannel, by an authorized user.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the modifying of the second contentchannel does not change the first content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes identifying one or more contentchannels with a user-generated name.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodfor using a content channel. The method includes establishing ananonymous content channel and selecting one or more content assets froma pool of content assets based on similarity between the content assetsand anonymous content channel seeds. An indication of the selected oneor more content assets is presented to a user of the anonymous contentchannel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes deleting the anonymous contentchannel following access of the anonymous content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes restricting modification of theanonymous content channel seeds.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes utilizing the anonymous contentchannel to provide related content assets.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the anonymous content channel seedsinclude: a reference to a content asset and/or search term.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes storing the anonymous contentchannel for subsequent access.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes excluding previously accessedcontent assets selected from the anonymous content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes receiving user feedback for theanonymous content channel, cloning the anonymous content channel; andincorporating the user feedback in the cloned anonymous content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes identifying the anonymouscontent channel with a user-generated name.

Other embodiments of the present invention include the methods describedabove but implemented using apparatus or programmed as computer code tobe executed by one or more processors operating in conjunction with oneor more electronic storage media.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certainillustrative embodiments of the invention are described herein inconnection with the following description and the annexed drawings.These embodiments are indicative, however, of but a few of the variousways in which the principles of the invention may be employed and thepresent invention is intended to include all such aspects and theirequivalents. Other embodiments and features of the invention may becomeapparent from the following description of the invention when consideredin conjunction with the drawings. The following description, given byway of example, but not intended to limit the invention solely to thespecific embodiments described, may best be understood in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a network that supports embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of display device that may be used according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a series of steps to create and display content channelsaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a series of steps that can be used to modify anddisplay content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a series of steps that can be used to obtain anddisplay content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a series of steps that can be used to modify settingsand display content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a series of steps that can be used to evaluate anddisplay content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a series of steps that can be used to share feedbackand display content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a series of steps that can be used to establish andmanipulate content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a series of steps that can be used to share contentchannels among users according to yet another embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 shows a series of steps that can be used to modify sharedcontent channels according to yet another embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 12 shows a series of steps that can be used to clone contentchannels according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 shows a series of steps that use a user interface to implementembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 14 shows a series of steps that can be used to manipulate ananonymous content channel according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 15 shows a series of steps that can be used to modify contentchannels according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is noted that in this disclosure and particularly in the claimsand/or paragraphs, terms such as “comprises,” “comprised,” “comprising,”and the like can have the meaning attributed to it in U.S. patent law;that is, they can mean “includes,” “included,” “including,” “including,but not limited to” and the like, and allow for elements not explicitlyrecited. Terms such as “consisting essentially of” and “consistsessentially of” have the meaning ascribed to them in U.S. patent law;that is, they allow for elements not explicitly recited, but excludeelements that are found in the prior art or that affect a basic or novelcharacteristic of the invention. These and other embodiments aredisclosed or are apparent from and encompassed by, the followingdescription. As used in this application, the terms “component” and“system” are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, eitherhardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or softwarein execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited tobeing, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, anexecutable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By wayof illustration, both an application running on a server and the servercan be a component. One or more components may reside within a processand/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on onecomputer and/or distributed between two or ore computers.

Furthermore, the detailed description describes various embodiments ofthe present invention for illustration purposes and embodiments of thepresent invention include the methods described and may be implementedusing one or more apparatus, such as processing apparatus coupled toelectronic media. Embodiments of the present invention may be stored onan electronic media (electronic memory, RAM, ROM, EEPROM) or programmedas computer code (e.g., source code, object code or any suitableprogramming language) to be executed by one or more processors operatingin conjunction with each other and/or one or more electronic storagemedia.

Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented using one ormore processing devices, or processing modules. The processing devices,or modules, may be coupled such that portions of the processing and/ordata manipulation may be performed at one or more processing devices andshared or transmitted between a plurality of processing devices ormodules.

Indeed, the present invention may be implemented in a distributed or“cloud” computing environment in which shared resources, software andinformation are provided to computers and other devices over a network,which may be, for example, the Internet. “Cloud computing” typicallyinvolves delivering hosted services over the Internet. A cloud servicetypically has three distinct characteristics that differentiate it fromtraditional hosting. One characteristic is that it is sold on demand,typically by the minute or the hour; secondly, it is elastic—a user canhave as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time;and thirdly, the service is usually fully managed by the provider (theconsumer needs nothing but a personal computer and Internet access).Significant innovations in virtualization and distributed computing, aswell as improved access to high-speed Internet have accelerated interestin cloud computing. The cloud can be private or public. A public cloudtypically sells services to anyone on the Internet. (Currently, AmazonWeb Services™ is the largest public cloud provider.) A private cloud isa proprietary network or a data center that supplies hosted services toa limited number of people. When a service provider uses public cloudresources to create their private cloud, the result is called a virtualprivate cloud. Private or public, the goal of cloud computing is toprovide easy, scalable access to computing.

“Distributed computing”, or “distributed systems” relate to a system ofmultiple autonomous computers or processing devices or facilities thatcommunicate through a network. The computers interact with each other inorder to achieve a particular goal. A computer program that runs in adistributed system is typically referred to as a “distributed program”and “distributed programming” is the process of writing such programs.Distributed computing also refers to the use of distributed systems tosolve computational problems. Typically, in distributed computing, aproblem is divided into multiple tasks, each of which is solved by oneor more computers. In general, distributed computing is any computingthat involves multiple computers remote from each other that each has arole in a computation problem or information processing.

FIG. 1 shows a network environment 100 that supports embodiments of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the system includes acommunication network 102, a server 104, one or more content sources106(a), 106(b). . . 106(n) (where “n” is any suitable number) and aplurality of user devices 112(a), 112(b) . . . 112(n) (where “n” is anysuitable number). The user devices (generally 112) may also haveassociated devices 114(a), 114(b). . . 114(n) (where “n” is any suitablenumber) that may be used in conjunction with the user device 112.

The network 102 is, for example, any combination of linked computers, orprocessing devices, adapted to transfer and process data. The network102 may be private Internet Protocol (IP) networks, as well as public IPnetworks, such as the Internet that can utilize World Wide Web (www)browsing functionality. An example of a wired network is a network thatuses communication buses and MODEMS, or DSL lines, or a local areanetwork (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) to transmit and receive databetween terminals. An example of a wireless network is a wireless LAN.Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is another example of awireless network. The GSM network is divided into three major systemswhich are the switching system, the base station system, and theoperation and support system (GSM). Also, IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) is acommonly used wireless network in computer systems, which enablesconnection to the Internet or other machines that have Wi-Fifunctionality. Wi-Fi networks broadcast radio waves that can be pickedup by Wi-Fi receivers that are attached to different computers.

The server module, or facility, or unit, 104 is typically a server,computer, or other processing device(s) such as a desktop computer,laptop computer, and the like. The server module 104 includes one ormore memory modules 154 and one or more processors 156 and isbi-directionally coupled with network 102 via wired or wireless medium122, which are typically bi-directional communication media, which maybe for example a serial bus such as IEEE 1394, or other wire or wirelesstransmission mechanisms to transit audio data, video data, pixel data,streaming data, flat files, or any combination thereof, or any suitableelectronic data between network 102 and server 104. The memory module154 of the server 104 may comprise a plurality of algorithm storagemodules that store the algorithms described herein in relation to FIGS.3-15.

It is noted that the server 104 may be a single server, and also may beimplemented as one or more separate servers, which may be used in acloud computing or distributed computing environment. The server 104 isused to control flow of content from content source modules (generally106) to user devices (generally 112). The server 104 has associatedprocessing capacity and storage capacity to disseminate the contentassets, via network 102, from one or more content modules (106) to oneor more user devices (112).

Content source modules 106(a), 106(b). . . 106(n) are typicallyelectronic storage media that store electronic content, such as contentassets, that may be provided to user devices 112. The content sourcemodules 106 may be for example repositories of audio data, video data,IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base), streaming video storage locations orother suitable locations that store video data, audio data, pixel dataor other electronic content that a user may wish to access (view and/orlisten) using devices 112. Content source modules 106(a), 106(b) . . .106(n) are in bi-directional communication with network 102 viaassociated communication medium 107(a), 107(b). . . 107(n). Thecommunication media (generally 107) are typically bi-directionalcommunication media, which may be for example a serial bus such as IEEE1394, or other wire or wireless transmission mechanisms to transit audiodata, video data, pixel data, streaming data, flat files, or anycombination thereof, or any suitable electronic data between network 102and content source modules 106.

User devices 112(a), 112(b) . . . 112(n) (where “n” is any suitablenumber) are typically consumer electronic devices such as a television,IPTV television, computer, such as a VAIO PC™, VAIO™ laptop, Mylo™, orother apparatus with sufficient processing and storage capability, orany device with a web browser to display and/or store electronic contentassets. The user devices 112(a), 112(b). . . 112(n) are typicallyconnected to the communication network 102, via associated communicationmedium 113(a), 113(b). . . 113(n). The communication media (generally113) are typically bi-directional communication media, which may be forexample a serial bus such as IEEE 1394, or other wire or wirelesstransmission mechanisms to transit audio data, video data, pixel data,streaming data, flat files, or any combination thereof, or any suitableelectronic data between network 102 and user device 112. User device 112may be any suitable consumer electronic (CE) unit or module or device.As shown in FIG. 2, the user devices 112 may be computer products.

A second device 114(a), 114(b). . . 114(n) (where “n” is any suitablenumber) (generally referred to as 114 herein) may be associated with theuser device 112 and may act as a visual aid to the user device 112,particularly when the user device 112 is an IPTV device. The seconddevice(s) 114 typically include devices such as a cellphone, laptop,etc., which execute a program that allows the second device 114 to actas the visual aid to the user device 112.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a user device 112 that may be used accordingto an embodiment of the present invention. User device 112 typicallyincludes a central processing unit (CPU) 204 and memory 206. The userdevice 112 also has a user interface (UI) 210, speaker 212, display unit214 and I/O port 216. Often a device will be connected to another devicefor peripheral capabilities for output, such as a BLU-RAY™ playerconnected to a TV and/or home theater system. Also, there may be aplurality of speakers (or display units), such as with a surround soundsystem. The system may also utilize an internet radio device. The userdevice 112 also has a bi-directional communication channel 113, asdescribed above.

The display unit 214 is typically an LCD display, plasma, highdefinition television screen, laser phosphor display, or other devicesuitable display unit to display electronic data, for example, in theform of pixels.

CPU 204 is a processor, such as, by way of example and not limitation,an Intel Core™ 2 microprocessor or a Freescale™ PowerPC™ microprocessor,or other suitable processor used to process the data in memory 206.

Memory unit 206 is an electronic storage medium suitable to storeelectronic data, including streaming files, flat files, audio and/orvideo data or any combination thereof. memory 206 may also include datastorage devices, or units 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100,1200, 1300, 1400 and 1500 to store the algorithms as described herein inrelation to the related FIGS. 3-15, respectively. The electronic storagemodules may include a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and drive (notshown), such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, capable of reading/writing data ontoa removable medium, Read Only Memory (ROM) and Random-Access Memory(RAM).

The user device 112 further includes an input and output interface unit,or user interface (UI) 210, which may include a receiver to receivespoken commands and spoken utterances that may be used to obtain contentassets, as described herein. Coupled to the input and output interfaceunit 210 may be other peripheral devices such as, e.g., a keyboard ormouse, an output device, or unit (not shown). Also shown coupled to userdevice 112 are speaker 212 and auxiliary display 214 such as, e.g., aCRT or LCD display. The user device 112 may be equipped with a browserprogram suitable for communication with the World Wide Web.

One skilled in the art will recognize that, although components aredepicted as different units, the components can be parts of the sameunit or units, and that the functions of one can be shared in whole orin part by the other, e.g., as RAM disks, virtual memory, etc. It willalso be appreciated that any particular computer may have multiplecomponents of a given type, e.g., processors, input devices, etc.

The memory 206 may store an operating system such as Microsoft Windows™,Linux, Mac OS™, Unix™, Android™ or iOS™.

The user device 112 may also include additional components and/orsystems, such as network connections, additional memory, additionalprocessors, network interfaces, input/output ports or busses orreceivers to receive spoken utterances. Also the programs and data maybe received by and stored in the system in alternative ways. Forexample, a computer-readable storage medium (CRSM) reader, such as,e.g., a magnetic disk drive, magneto-optical drive, optical disk drive,or flash drive, may be read from a computer-readable storage medium(CRSM) such as, e.g., a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, anoptical disk, or flash RAM. Further, it will be appreciated that theterm “memory” herein is intended to include various types of suitabledata storage media, whether permanent or temporary, such as transitoryelectronic memories, non-transitory computer-readable medium and/orcomputer-writable medium.

FIG. 3 shows a series of steps 300 to create and display contentchannels according to another embodiment of the present invention. Thesteps 300 may be stored on a suitable electronic storage medium, such asa computer-readable medium, which may be non-transitory, or RAM. Thesteps 300 may be object code, source code, or stored on a dedicatedstorage medium, either local to the user device (FIG. 1, device 112) orat a remote location, (FIG. 1, server 104) and accessed as desired. Thusthe steps 300 may be considered a module when stored and/or accessedand/or retrieved, regardless of the type of storage medium.

As shown in FIG. 3, the process 300 begins with start step 302.References to seed content are acquired and used to generate one or moreseeds, as shown in step 304. The seeds are derived from references tocontent assets (306), information related to content assets (308),meta-data associated with a content asset (309), keywords (311), usercriteria (313), images (315) and/or spoken utterance (317). A contentasset is typically electronic content such as audio data, video data,streaming video data, pixel data, files or other content that may beaccessed by a user.

A content list may be generated utilizing the seed content references,as shown in step 310 and additional content is acquired based on theseed content references, as shown in step 312. This acquisition is basedon matching the seed content references with content assets that are ina pool, or collection of content assets. A suitable matching algorithmmay be used to provide the closest matched content assets based on theseeds used to select content assets.

The pool of content assets may include content assets that are notavailable to a particular user. This may be because the rating of thecontent asset exceeds a permitted rating for the user (i.e., the contentasset is rated “R” and the user's permitted rating is only “PG”), or thecontent asset requires hardware and/or software that is not available tothe user device. Thus, while the content asset may not be compatiblewith the user and/or user device, the seeds of that content asset may beused to seek other more suitable content assets for the user/device,which may be available to the user. Another example is that the userinputted seeds from a rented movie, which was returned. Thus, the userno longer has access to the rented movie, but the seeds of the rentedmovie are used to identify content assets. Furthermore, a content assetmay not be available to a user because the content asset is notavailable in the country or geographical region where the device islocated. The location of the user device may be tracked or monitoredbased on GPS (global positioning satellites), or Internet Protocol (IP)address of the user device.

The particular content list is updated with the additional contentassets, as shown in step 314 and content assets are selected for access,such as playback from the content list, as shown in step 316. When theuser is passively consuming the content, the next asset in the list canbe chosen automatically and provided once the current asset ends. Forexample, if the content assets are movies, the next movie will beginplaying as soon as the current movie ends. Thus, the content channelprovides a constant supply of selected content to the user without theuser taking any additional action.

A determination is made whether to update the content based on a user'sselection, as shown in step 318. One option is to update the contentlist, as shown by line 320 reaching update content step 314. Anotheroption is that a determination is made whether the content has beenpreviously accessed, which may include, viewed and/or selected and/orlistened to as shown step 324 (line 322). Criteria of a content channelcan be updated, as shown in step 328, which is reached, via line 326,following the determination step (324). This process can be used tomodify the content assets based on previous selections by a user. Forexample, if a user watches an episode of “South Park” the system(described in FIG. 3) will match characteristics of that content asset(i.e., animated, comedy, mature themes) to other content assets. A matchmay include “the Simpons” since that content asset is also an animatedcomedy with mature themes. The updated criteria (328) can be provided togenerate a content list, as shown in step 310.

If the content asset has not been previously accessed (viewed/listenedto/selected), line 327 shows that an indication of the selected contentasset is provided to a selected user device, as shown in step 330. Theindication may include, for example, the title of the content asset, asummary of the content asset, a sample portion of the content asset orother portion or identifying information that provides insight into thecontent asset. Thus, a user may view a list of titles of content assetsand then determine which, if any, of the content assets the user wishesto access. Also, the sequence of the indication may be ordered such thatthe content assets that match the seeds most closely are listed first.Thus, the user will have a more efficient listing of matching contentassets. This provision may be a display on a display apparatus, outputto a speaker, transmission to a storage location for subsequent access,or other output and/or storage and/or transmission function.

The content asset is provided to the user device, as shown in step 332.This provision may be playing a movie, providing audio content or otherdisplay of the desired content asset.

A user may provide feedback, or other input based on the indication(title, summary, etc.) of the content asset, as well as feedback to thecontent asset provided in step 332, as shown in step 334. This input maybe to delete the content asset or access the content asset to view on auser device. The user input is used to update the content list (314),reached via line 337 as well as generate seeds (304), via line 336.Also, the user may make another selection, if they wish, as shown indetermination step 338. If the user wishes to make another contentselection, selection step 312 is reached via line 339. If the user doesnot wish to make another selection, end step 350 may be reached via line340.

FIG. 4 illustrates a series of steps 400 that can be used to modify anddisplay content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention. The steps 400 may be stored on a suitable electronicstorage medium, such as a computer-readable medium, which may benon-transitory, or RAM. The steps 400 may be object code, source code,or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either local to the user device(FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG. 1, server 104) andaccessed as desired. Thus the steps 400 may be considered a module whenstored and/or accessed and/or retrieved, regardless of the type ofstorage medium.

As shown in FIG. 4, the process 400 begins with start step 402. Seedsare generated, as shown in step 404 and information about the contentasset is acquired, as shown in step 406. For example, if a user isinterested in cartoon comedies with adult themes, such as “South Park”,it is not necessary for actual episode of “South Park” to be acquired orplayed in order for the characteristics of the content asset to be usedto make a determination that an episode of “The Simpsons” is a goodmatch for content of cartoon comedies with adult themes. A determinationis made if a content list exists that is associated with that seedcontent, as shown in step 410. If a content list does exist, the contentis updated with seed content, as shown in step 412. If the content listdoes not exist, a content list is created using the seed content, asshown in step 408.

Tags are extracted from content meta-data and/or content data in thecontent list, as shown in step 414 and a commonality of extracted tagsis determined, as shown in step 416. The tags are assigned a weight, asshown in step 420 and a determination of appropriate additional contentassets are made based on the weighting of the tags, as shown in step424. A matching step is performed to determine whether the additionalcontent is similar, or within a predetermined threshold, as shown instep 426. When the additional content is determined to be an acceptablematch, the additional content is acquired, as shown in step 428.

The content list is updated with additional content as shown in step430. The updated content list may then be used as a source from whichtags may be extracted, as shown by step 414 being reached, via line 432.The process ends, as shown in step 440.

FIG. 5 illustrates a series of steps 500 that can be used to obtain anddisplay content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention. The steps 500 may be stored on a suitable electronicstorage medium, such as a computer-readable medium, which may benon-transitory, or RAM. The steps 500 may be object code, source code,or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either local to the user device(FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG. 1, server 104) andaccessed as desired. Thus the steps 500 may be considered a module whenstored and/or accessed and/or retrieved, regardless of the type ofstorage medium.

The process begins, as shown in step 502. One or initial content assetsmay be obtained, as shown in step 504. The content assets for thechannel are selected based on settings. Settings for a content channelcan contain references to content selections that are used as “seeds”when choosing content selections for the channel, as shown in step 506.The settings may be derived from content sources.

The content assets may be provided from across multiple services andsources (508, 510, and 512) that have some commonality based on criteriadefining the content channel. Typically, one or more content channelsare seeded by content references. These content references are used whendetermining what content assets to select for the channel. Additionally,the content channel can have keywords (514) and tags (516) that guidecontent selections that would be appropriate for that channel. Othersources of content seeds include, for example, other content channels(518) and references to lists (520), images (521), spoken utterances(523), audio (525) and another content list (527). Thus, contentchannels can be seeded by references to lists of content as well asreferences to content. An example would be a reference to a user'sfavorites list. As the user adds references to content to theirfavorites list, those new references influence content assets chosen fora content channel that is seeded with a reference to the user'sfavorites list. The list of references to content used as seeds in acontent channel can be referenced as a seed in another content channel.Content channels can be seeded by references to other content channels.A content channel may include content selections for that channel thatare picked automatically based on zero or more settings.

A channel may be seeded by more than one content list. Some contentlists may be specific to a particular channel while others may beexternal to the channel. An example of a list that is specific to achannel would be a list that is automatically created by the channel tohold content selections that the user adds to the channel as seeds.

Lists that are specific to a particular channel can be considered to beowned by that channel. An example of a content list (527) that isexternal to a channel would be a channel that is seeded by a referenceto a user's list of favorites. Lists that are used as seed lists forchannels may be used to store metadata about the content items in thelist, such as title and description, in the list so that a content itemin a list can continue to be used as a seed for the channel even if thecontent asset becomes unavailable and can no longer be played. It isanother embodiment of the present invention to utilize one or moreexternal lists of content as a source of seed information for picking orselecting content assets.

Furthermore, the content assets may be viewed on a variety of differentdisplay devices and Internet content assets may be viewed from a varietyof different sources in a consistent manner. References to contentselections from multiple services act as criteria for automaticallyselecting similar content assets from across multiple services.

The content references may be stored, as shown in step 522 and thecontent references may be used as seed references, as shown in step 524.An algorithm, or user, or viewer, may select content assets from theseed references, as shown in step 526.

Content channels may optionally have other settings, as shown in step528, such as the preferred language. These settings may be used in thecontent setting step 506, described above. Content channels may havevarious optional filters, as shown in step 530 that prevent contentassets that matches the filter criteria from being selected for thechannel. Content channels can be filtered by content rating settings tolimit the content selected for that channel by the content rating. Thusmature themes and content with a rating of “R” can be excluded. Also,user device capabilities may be used as filtering criteria, as well aslanguage of the content.

Other desired additional filters may be based on many things, includingkeywords, codex used, file format, image size, aspect ratio, and bitrate, as shown in step 532.

Following desired filtering, content assets of a content channel may beprovided to a user, at one or more designated user devices, as shown instep 534. Once a content channel, and the associated content assets areprovided to a user, that content may be used as a basis for additionalcontent (536) for that channel, or as a basis to seed another contentchannel (538), as shown by line 540 leading to content setting step 506.

The data about the content channel may be recorded, as shown in step542. For example, content channels can maintain meta-data about items,such as content or lists, that are referenced as seeds for the contentchannel so that if the referenced item ceases to be accessible, theinfluence on the content channel of having that item referenced as aseed is not affected. Users can passively watch or listen to a contentchannel as the system will make more content selections for a contentchannel as needed. Thus, subsequent content assets can be displayed toone or more desired user devices, as shown in step 544.

A user, upon viewing the content channel may manipulate the playbackfunctionality, as shown in step 546. This manipulation may include“fast-forward”, “pause” “rewind” and similar function controls for thecontent assets. If a user desires to manipulate the functionality anindication of the content assets are provided, which may include,displaying or otherwise providing a portion or all of the contentassets, based on that functionality, as shown in step 549. The user mayalso navigate the content assets, as shown in step 552. For example, thechoices made for a content channel are recorded as data about thechannel. A user can navigate through these choices.

The content assets may include advertising content, such as commercials,trailers, or other audio and/or video and/or image content, as shown instep 554, if so, the advertising is provided, as shown in step 558, vialine 556. For example, advertising content may be inserted into acontent channel as part of the content channel that is provided to aviewer. The selection of ads to play can be influenced by the contentchannel settings that are used to pick content assets for the channel.For example, the navigation choices given to a user may be limited. Anexample would be to not allow navigation through the history for a radiostation. Another example would be to not allow skipping forward orfast-forward through ad content.

If there is no advertising content, a determination is made whether thecontent asset has been previously accessed, as shown in step 562, via560. If so, the user may choose whether they wish to access the contentasset again, as shown in step 568. For example, the repeat access step568, enables a user to indicate that they wish to access (view/listento) a piece of content again. The content asset, or piece of content, isselected once more as if it had not been selected the first time. Forexample, a user may not have been paying attention, and would like toview the full content asset a second time, or any subsequent times. Aswill be discussed in more detail below, as user may also choose to allowthe content asset to be chosen again repeatedly, after a time period ornumber of pick limits, such as a favorite song picked by an audiochannel.

If the user wishes to access (view/listen to), the content asset again,the content asset is displayed again, as shown by line 570 to thedisplay content step 549. If a user does not wish to access the contentasset again, the next content asset is accessed, as shown in step 574,via line 572.

The process ends, as shown by end step 580.

Content channels use their history information to keep from repeatingprevious selections. The restriction on previous content assets couldprevent a content selection from being repeated as long as there aremore content assets available that fits the settings for that channel. Arestriction to not view previous content assets a second time could berelaxed for a channel, such that a radio station channel may prevent anyof the last 40 selections to be chosen next. The restriction on previouscontent could also be relaxed for a channel, such that no content assetthat was played for that channel in the last 24 hours can be pickednext. As stated previously, a user may select a “black-out” a period oftime during which they do not wish to view/listen to selected items ofcontent, after which the content assets may be provided to the user.Thus, if a user has heard a particular song repeatedly, they can blockthat content asset for a particular time.

Typically, when playback reaches the end of each piece of content,playback of the next piece of content will begin automatically. Whenplaying a content channel, a user an skip to the next content selectionat any point. When playing a content channel, a user can be allowed tocontrol the playback with all standard controls, such as pause,fast-forward, rewind, and skip to the beginning.

FIG. 6 illustrates a series of steps 600 that can be used to modifysettings and display content channels according to yet anotherembodiment of the present invention. The steps 600 may be stored on asuitable electronic storage medium, such as a computer-readable medium,which may be non-transitory, or RAM. The steps 600 may be object code,source code, or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either local tothe user device (FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG. 1,server 104) and accessed as desired. Thus the steps 600 may beconsidered a module when stored and/or accessed and/or retrieved,regardless of the type of storage medium.

The process starts, as shown by start step 602. A presentation ofcontent, or a list of content, that is available for a channel may bepresented to the user, as shown in step 604. The list, could be acatalog of available content from one more services. The list could beorganized into categories and sub-categories or by channels and times.The history for a content channel might be another source of contentthat may be used in step 604. For example, the presentation may be inthe form of a schedule list, such as an EPG (electronic program guide)that the user navigate through, as shown in step 606 and indicate aselection from the displayed list, typically by using a control device,such as a remote controller.

A history of the content channel is provided to the user, as shown instep 608. When navigating through the history for a content channel(608), a user can select any of the content selections to be added tothe settings for the channel as a content reference to be used as a seedwhen choosing future content selections for the channel, as shown instep 610. Users can create any number of new named content channels andset the criteria that these channels use when selecting content assets.Users can view and modify the settings for any content channel theycreated, as shown in step 612.

A user can utilize the modified settings, as shown in step 614. Themodified settings (614) can be used to identify additional contentassets, which may be presented to the user, as shown in step 604 (line616). Also, as shown by line 616, the list of content could also beavailable choices for a content channel, since the modified settings(614) can be used in step 604.

Thus, while line 616 shows embodiment in which modified settings areused to generate a list of content, it is also an embodiment of thepresent invention that after the modified settings are established, acontent channel may be generated based on the modified settings, asshown in step 618. This embodiment (i.e., not using the loop-backfeature shown in line 616) does not provide the history of the contentchannel to a user after the settings have been modified. A user may thennavigate through content listings of a content channel, as shown in step620. This navigation through a list of content includes commands such as“forward” and “backward”, or “navigate” through the content in a listform.

Furthermore, when navigating forward through the content assetselections made for a content channel in list form, the user mayindicate a status of previously accessed selections. These statusidentifiers may include “viewed”, “partially viewed”, “not viewed”,“allowed to be replayed”, “allow re-play multiple times”, “allow re-play‘n’ times”, “allow re-play after ‘x’ hours” or other suitableindication, as shown in step 622.

Meta-data of content that a user may not be authorized toview/listen/access, or does not have technical device capability orfunctionality to view/listen/access may be provided to a user as a wayto generate a content channel that has similar content to theunauthorized content, as shown in step 624. Thus, users are able tonavigate through the list of content references that is/was used to seeda content channel as they would through any other list of content. Thisincludes accessing (listening, viewing, playing, storing) any contentthat they have authorization to access as well as being provided anindication of their lack of authorization for the other pieces ofcontent. For example, users may access and view the meta-data for anyseed content that they do not have authorization to play. For example, auser may have rented a movie and added it to the seed list for one oftheir content channels. After the rental expires, the user is no longerauthorized to watch that movie, but the movie information is still partof the seed list for the content channel and thus influences the contentselections for that channel the same way it did before the rentalexpired.

Since substantial content that a user may wish to access may be part ofa series, album or accumulation of content, the content of the contentchannel may be organized based on a sequence, or ordering or chronologyof the content (precedent), as shown in step 626. Indeed, content assetsthat are typically necessary or helpful to understand other contentassets may be deemed precedential content such that the provision ofprecedential content assets occurs prior to other desired contentassets. This way, the content selected is set in the proper sequence. Ifa user does not care to access (view/listen to) precedential content,such content may be skipped or rejected.

For example, during the process of content channel selection, selectingan item in a series, such as episode 3 of a series of seven episodes,means that the channel picks episode 1 of the series first if the wholeseries is a good match for the content channel. If there is subjectmatter in episode 3 of the series but not the other episodes that matchthe content channel, then episode 3 should be chosen for the contentchannel and the other episodes can be left out of the picks for thatchannel. Thus, some content assets may be deemed precedential to othercontent assets since subsequent content assets build, or derive fromearlier content assets.

The meta-data of the content may be stored and utilized for subsequentcontent selections for the content channel, or selections for a relatedcontent channel, as shown in steps 628 and 630 and line 632 showing thatpresentation step 604 is reached. The presentation (604) will utilizethe meta-data of step 630. For example, meta-data about the context inwhich each piece of content was found when it was added to a contentchannel as a seed can be stored with the content reference to influencesubsequent content selections. This meta-data may include the category,content channel, or list the content was in, or other identifying data.The meta-data may also include search terms that were used to find thecontent if it was added from a set of search results. Furthermore, thereare numerous methods for generating meta-data from the content data. Forone instance, meta-data can come from a service provider who providesthe content. Alternatively, meta-data may come from a source ofmeta-data, for example, Gracenote™ and/or IMDB™, which providesmeta-data about content. In another instance, meta-data can come fromSony™ using a content analysis process that generates actual audiovisualinformation about that content. For example, in the case in which aserver did not get sufficient meta-data from a service provider abouttheir content, the server content analysis process may be used inconjunction with other known data can provide additional actualmeta-data.

A user may sort the order, or sequence, that content assets aredisplayed, as shown in step 636. For example, when viewing the list ofcontent chosen for a content channel or a list of content used as a seedfor a content channel the user may sort the order in which the contentis listed. This sorting may be performed automatically by the userselecting one or more sorting criteria or categories, such asalphabetical, chronological, and popularity. Alternatively, the user mayperform the sorting manually by re-arranging the order, or sequence, ofthe list of content. In such an embodiment, the user will provide inputto modify the programmed steps of algorithm 600. The user may access thecontent asset, or an indication of the content asset, such as the title,summary or the actual content, as shown in step 638.

The order of sorting may also be changed as shown in step 640. Forexample, the user may sort to reverse the ordering of the content asset.If the order is modified, step 636 is reached via line 642. The user mayalso play the list of content chosen for a content channel or display alist of content used for as a seed for a content channel in a continuousmanner. This includes having the items play from first to last in theorder in which the user sorted the list at the start of playing. Thisalso includes playing the items continuously in a “shuffle play” manner.In addition to shuffle play, there is also “single play” that plays thecontent once and then ends and “repeat play” that plays the contentselections through in order, then loops back to the beginning and keepsreplaying the list. There is also “continuous play” that causes newselections of content to be generated such that a new selection ofcontent is provided as the last selection on the list of content ends.

After viewing selected content, a user may assign a reproduction statusidentifier which indicates repetition of the content asset, such as“replayable once” or “replayable repeatedly”, as shown in step 646,reached via line 644. The reproduction status identifier is typically aflag, indicator, user-input instruction or other program code thatdefines reproduction functionality of an associated content asset. Thereproduction status identifier associated with a content asset may bechanged by a user. For example, using the reproduction status identifierto mark an item as replayable once enables a user to re-access, orre-play content that they wish to access another time, such as at alater time or date. This is useful if the user was not paying attentionwhen the content was chosen and would like to see it again when watchingthat content channel. The content identified with a reproduction statusidentifier may be presented again, as shown in step 604, reached vialine 648.

The process 600 ends, as shown by end step 650.

It is also an embodiment of the present invention that a user may alsonavigate past the selections that have already been made. Thus, newselections ill be made for the channel and displayed to the user tonavigate through. The user is also able to see where the end of thecurrent set of selections is and control when new selections are madedue to their browsing behavior. Furthermore, the history for a contentchannel typically contains information about which content selectionshave been viewed by the user, partially viewed by the user, andcompletely “un-played”, or not accessed by the user.

As described above, content channels allow a user to passively watch an“endless” (new content may be continuously added) series ofnon-repetitive content that is of interest to them from across a widevariety of content services and providers. Users can fine-tune thechoices made for the content channels to improve the fit between theselections made and their interests. With the vast volume of contentavailable from an increasingly fragmented set of providers the use ofcontent channels makes accessing content that is chosen by a contentchannel more efficient.

When accessing content assets, such as viewing or listening to theasset, users may navigate through the asset. This includes “pause”,“fast-forward”, “rewind”, “skip forward”, “skip backward”, or“navigate”. Skipping forward may require another content selection to bemade for the channel.

FIG. 7 illustrates a series of steps 700 that can be used to evaluateand display content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention. The steps 700 may be stored on a suitable electronicstorage medium, such as a computer-readable medium, which may benon-transitory, or transitory, such as RAM. The steps 700 may be objectcode, source code, or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either localto the user device (FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG.1, server 104) and accessed as desired. Thus the steps 700 may beconsidered a module when stored and/or accessed and/or retrieved,regardless of the type of storage medium.

The process 700 begins, as shown in start step 702. A user may access(e.g., view or listen to or otherwise experience) content assets of acontent channel, as shown in step 704. When viewing, or listening to, acontent selection from a content channel the user may provide feedbackregarding how well the user thinks the particular selection fits thecriteria for the channel, as shown in step 706. Alternatively, a usermay wish to provide feedback regarding a previously accessed contentasset.

If the user does not wish to provide feedback, the content asset isaccessed, as shown by line 708 leading to access step 704.

If the user wishes to provide feedback, a form or the feedback isestablished, as shown in step 712, reached via line 710. The contentasset being evaluated is identified, as shown in step 714. Users maygive feedback about the current content asset selection that is playing,or rate previous content asset selections when viewing the history ofselections for the content channel. This rating can be a binary, i.e., a“thumbs up” or “thumbs down” rating as shown in step 716, or can be moregranular, such as a numerical rating scale of 1-5, or 1-10 indicating anopinion, as shown in step 718, or may be written comments, as shown instep 720, or other suitable rating tool to indicate the user's opinionof the content match. When written comments are provided, the commentscan be incorporated into a rating of the content asset. The feedback mayalso be a combination of the above-listed formats, such as a “star”rating with written comments. The “star” rating may indicate one levelof satisfaction, which may be objective, or quantitative, and thewritten comments can be used as a subjective, or qualitative, rating.Therefore the feedback may include a quantitative component as well as aqualitative component.

The seeds in a content channel may be weighted and thus, generate aweighting tag of the seeds based on user feedback, as shown in step 722.The higher the weighting, the more influence that seed has on thecontent assets chosen for that content channel. These weighting can beapplied to each content reference, list reference, content channelreference, tag or keyword, as shown in step 724. A seed with a negativeweighting causes content assets that are similar to the negativelyweighted seed to be less likely to be chosen for a content channel. Themore negative the weighting, the more influence the weighting will haveeliminating similar content assets from being chosen for the contentchannel. The weighting functionality can be based on an algorithm 700calculating a weight coefficient. Alternatively, a user may input aweight using an input device, such as a UI, as described herein.

Thus, the weightings are used to select additional content assets, asshown in step 726. Each list of seed content for a content channel canbe given a weighting which determines how much influence that list hason content choices. There may also be weightings for each list of termsor keywords used to seed the content channel.

The use of seeds with negative weightings can influence the choices fora channel by making similar content assets less likely for that channel.One way this feedback influences future selections for the contentchannel is to add the rated content selection to the seed list for thechannel with a positive or negative weighting based on the usersfeedback on the content's fit with the content channel. This list wouldautomatically be created in the criteria for a content channel if itdoes not already exist.

The content seed selections made based on user's feedback can be kept ina separate list of seed content for that channel. If the content channelhas a reference to a list, as shown in step 728, then that listreference can contain a mask of weightings for each item the list, asshown in step 734, reached as shown by line 732. A default weighting maybe used for each content selection in the list that was not explicitlyassigned a weighting in the mask, as shown in step 736, reached via line730.

Based on default setting or the mask of weightings for each item,additional content assets may be identified by utilizing the weightingsand/or settings, as shown in step 738. The additional identified contentmay be provided to the user, as shown in step 740 and the user canaccess the additional content and/or navigate through the additionalcontent, as shown in step 742.

The user may provide feedback with respect to the additional content asshown in step 744. If the user does provide feedback on the additionalcontent asset, the form of the feedback is established, as shown in step712, reached via line 746. The process ends with end step 750, reachedvia line 748.

FIG. 8 illustrates a series of steps 800 that can be used to sharefeedback and display content channels according to yet anotherembodiment of the present invention. The steps 800 may be stored on asuitable electronic storage medium, such as a computer-readable medium,which may be non-transitory, or transitory, such as RAM. The steps 800may be object code, source code, or stored on a dedicated storagemedium, either local to the user device (FIG. 1, device 112) or at aremote location, (FIG. 1, server 104) and accessed as desired. Thus thesteps 800 may be considered a module when stored and/or accessed and/orretrieved, regardless of the type of storage medium.

The process 800 begins, as shown in start step 802. A set of criteria isestablished to choose content selections that are similar to thecriteria, as shown in step 804. The criteria may include references tocontent assets (806) and tags (808) or keywords (810) or lists (812), orimages (813) or spoken utterance (815). Weighting are generated based onthe criteria, as shown in step 814. The weightings may be positive(favorable) or negative (unfavorable). The weightings may be applied tothe content, as shown in step 816. If the weightings are applied, theyare used, as shown in step 822, reached via line 818, to eitherpositively or negatively influence the content selection.

Content assets are selected based on, the available information, such ascriteria and/or weightings, as shown in step 824. The selection step(824) is reached whether the weightings are applied or not (line 820).The history of selections may also be used (826) in the selection ofcontent assets.

Additionally, the selection process can avoid selecting from a list. Onelist of content to avoid when making the selections will be based on thehistory of the content assets chosen for the content channel already, asshown in step 828. The items from the history that are not repeated caninclude the whole history list, the last “n” items (where “n” is anysuitable number), all items played in the last “n” minutes, any itemsnot flagged as repeatable by the user, or any combination of thosefactors. Thus, the system described herein can generate a repetitioncriteria, which is criteria used to determine repeated access to one orore content assets. For example, the access to content assets can resultis generation of a history list based on content assets that have beenaccessed. Content assets of the history list may be selectively excludedfrom subsequent access based on predetermined repetition criteria.Another list that may be avoided is the content that was used for theseeds of the list. For example, if a content channel is being viewed bya user, other than the creator of the content channel, then the seedcontent might be good choices, but any seed with a negative weightingshould not be selected.

Filters can be applied based on criteria and/or weightings, as shown instep 830. This filtering may be used to prevent certain content frombeing chosen. One example is filtering by a setting for content ratings,which would prevent content with certain ratings from being chosen.

Any suitable algorithm may be used to determine the similarity betweeneach piece of content being considered as a choice for a content channeland each content reference in the settings for that content channeland/or the keywords in the channel's settings, as shown in step 834.This correlation may include, for example, the extraction of terms andphrases from the meta-data about pieces of content (836), comparing userbehavior towards multiple pieces of content to find patterns ofsimilarity (838). This user behavior may also include activities such aschoices made for viewing and purchase, user ratings, the addition ofcontent to lists such as favorites (840) or content channel seed listsand comments (842) made in reference to content and/or IMDB (InternetMovie Data Base) (844).

Each time two pieces of content are added to the same list they can beconsidered more similar to each other. This could be a user's favoriteslist or a seed list for a content channel. For a seed list for a contentchannel, the degree to which they are considered to be more similar canbe determined by the similarity of the weightings they are given. If onehas a positive weighting and the other has a negative weighting, theycan be considered less similar. Furthermore, information about who isviewing a content channel may be taken into account when choosing itemsfor the content channel for that viewer. This includes things such asother content the user has chosen to view, content ratings made by theuser, and preferences, such as genre flags, indicated by the user. Thismay result in two different users seeing different content when viewingthe same content channel. For example, when considering a user identity,or user profile, associated with a user device, content that has alreadybeen viewed by that user can be eliminated from the choices made by thecontent channel so that the viewer will only see content assets for thechannel that has not been previously provided. Thus, a user willconstantly be provided with new content assets.

A determination is made whether the selected content is suitable to beadded to the content channel. This is typically achieved by determiningwhether a predetermined threshold is met, as shown in step 846. If thecontent asset is not deemed an appropriate match, other content assetsare selected, as shown in step 824, via line 848. If the selectedcontent asset is deemed appropriate content for the content channel, thecontent, or an indication of the content (title) may be provided to theuser, as shown in step 852, reached via line 850. The providing step mayalso include storing the content in memory, placing the content asset ina queue, indicating the content asset may be accessed by the user,and/or directly providing the content asset to a user device, typicallyvia a user interface.

If the user wishes to provide feedback, as shown in step 854, aweighting can be generated, as shown in step 814, via line 856. If theuser does not wish to provide feedback, the process 800 ends, as shownin step 870, reached via line 858.

It is also an embodiment of the present invention that the system mayobtain external meta-data from third parties about content, such as fromIMDB or Gracenote™, when determining the correlation between a piece ofcontent and the selection criteria (834). This could be for the contentbeing considered for selection or for the content being used as theselection criteria. Furthermore, depending on the settings of thechannel, the items used as seeds for the channel may be used as choicesfor content in that channel, or should be considered as not availablefor choices for that channel.

It is yet another embodiment of the present invention that if items inthe history for a content channel (826) are available to be selectedagain after a certain number of choices of other content or a certainamount of time has elapsed, some randomization of the content may beapplied to ensure that the same series of content from the history isnot picked again in the same order as those content selections becomeeligible again.

FIG. 9 illustrates a series of steps that can be used to establish andmanipulate content channels according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention. The steps 900 may be stored on a suitable electronicstorage medium, such as a computer-readable medium, which may benon-transitory, or transitory, such as RAM. The steps 900 may be objectcode, source code, or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either localto the user device (FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG.1, server 104) and accessed as desired. Thus the steps 900 may beconsidered a module when stored and/or accessed and/or retrieved,regardless of the type of storage medium.

The process 900 begins, as shown in start step 902. References for acontent channel are established, as shown in step 904. The references tocontent channels may be used as seeds for a content channel, as shownstep 906. References to categories may be established, as shown in step908 and these references to categories in a service or provide may beused as seeds in a content channel, as shown in step 910.

References to lists, such as a user's favorites, to be used as seeds ina content channel are established, as shown in step 912. Thesereferences to lists may be used as seeds for a content channel, as shownin step 914. The seeds may derive from tags and/or keywords, and/orreferences to content items and/or lists and/or other content channelsand/or categories.

A weighting may be assigned to all references, as shown in step 916 andthese weightings may be applied in the selection of content for thecontent channel, as shown in step 918. The weighting of the seeds may beequal in the selecting step.

Alternatively, the weighting of the seeds may be based on the type ofseed, origination of the seed, whether the seed is referenced as a seedin a content channel, or other criteria. Favorably or heavily weightedtags are more influential in the selecting step than lesser weightedseeds. It is also an embodiment that the content channel is excluded asa reference to the content channel.

Content is selected, as shown in step 920. The selection may be based onseeds (906), categories (910), lists (912) and/or weightings (918). Asstated previously, typically the seeds for a content channel are treatedin an equivalent manner whether the seeds are tags or keywords orreferences to content items, lists, content channels, or categories.Indeed, a content channel may have multiple lists of seeds of each type,with an overall weighting applied to the whole list of seeds. Thecontent is evaluated, as shown in step 922 to determine how well thecontent selected (920) matches the seeds, categories, lists and/orweightings.

The weighting may be modified, as shown in step 924 and the referencesmay also be modified, based on the modified weighting, as shown in step926. Once the references are modified, the steps of establishingreferences to content (904), establishing references to categories (908)and establishing references to lists (912) may be reached, as shown byline 927. Thus, as a referenced list, category, or content channelchanges, its influence on the content chosen for a content channel usingit as a seed will change. The influence of seeds in a content channelthat is referenced as a seed in a content channel should be weightedbased on the weighting of the content channel reference.

The seed should have less influence on the content channel thatreferences the channel it is defined in than it does on the channel itis defined in. For example, one embodiment is that there is a limit onthe number of levels of content channel references that an be used. Bytreating content channels and individual content selections equally itallows a mixture of assets and channels to be included in the same list,such as the results of a search, a category in a service, or the user'sfavorites. Users could also create a list of their favorite contentchannels.

Additional content assets may be selected, as shown step 928 and may beprovided to a user, as shown in step 930, either by storing the contentin memory, placing the content in a queue, indicating the content assetmay be accessed by the user, and/or directly providing the content to auser device, typically via a user interface.

If the user wishes to provide feedback, as shown in step 932, thereference to content may be modified, as shown in step 904, via line934/938. Also, the references may be modified as shown by line 934/936leading to modification step 926. If the user does not wish to providefeedback, the process 900 ends, as shown in step 950, reached by line940.

FIG. 10 illustrates a series of steps 1000 that can be used to sharecontent channels among users according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention. The steps 1000 may be stored on a suitable electronicstorage medium, such as a computer-readable medium, which may benon-transitory, or transitory, such as RAM. The steps 1000 may be objectcode, source code, or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either localto the user device (FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG.1, server 104) and accessed as desired. Thus the steps 1000 may beconsidered a module when stored and/or accessed and/or retrieved,regardless of the type of storage medium.

The process 1000 begins, as shown in start step 1002. Criteria for acontent channel are established, as shown in step 1004. The criteria caninclude meta-data about the content channel, such as title, description,key words, category classification or other data that can facilitatesearches or navigation of publically available content channels.Content, which matches the criteria, is acquired for the contentchannel, as shown in step 1006. Thus, the content channel may bedirected to a particular type of content asset.

A user may establish one or more privacy settings for a content channelthat they created, as shown in step 1008. The privacy settings mayinclude making the channel available to the public. The settings, whichare set by the creator of the content channel, may also be morerestrictive and share access to the content channel only with users whohave an association established with their account, such as being set upas “friends”. The settings may also make the user's content channelprivate so that the content channel is not accessible by any other user,or only pre-authorized other users who meet or exceed a minimum accessauthorization level. The settings may also make the content channelavailable only to other users that are explicitly identified and/orlisted.

The method 1000 can have special users that create and share contentchannels that are made available to users, which includes establishingcriteria to share content channels, as shown in step 1010. Thesecriteria can include things like content channels for certain contentassets based on features. The features may include, for example, certaingenres (1012), editor's picks (1014), actors (1016), directors (1018),and/or editors (1020).

A user may establish blocking to prevent certain other users fromaccessing their content channel, as shown in step 1022. As part of theblocking, if a user makes their content channel available to the public,they may create a blocked list of users that may not access that contentchannel.

If more than one user plays the same content channel, as shown in step1024, then a separate history can be maintained for each user's playbackof the content channel, as shown in step 1030, reached via line 1028.Alternatively, there may only be a single user, as shown by line 1026reaching step 1032.

Furthermore, it is also an embodiment of the present invention, that ifmore than one user plays the same content channel, then the contentchannel may have a single history, with each user maintaining anassociated offset into that history. A new user viewing a contentchannel would start with the first item in the channel's history andnavigate through the selections in the history that were previously madefor that channel. Furthermore, duplicate selections may be deleted toenhance efficiency of the content channel. Also, selections made for acontent channel will be skipped for a user who can not play theparticular selection, either due to rating limits, authorizations,device capabilities, inadequate electronic funds to purchase the contentasset or other technical, financial or user restrictions.

Application of the matching criteria for a content channel, as shown instep 1032 can execute a search, as shown in step 1034, which canidentify and/or locate other content, content assets and/or contentchannels, based on seed tracking that are usable by the user and are asatisfactory match to the search criteria entered by the user, as shownin step 1036. There can be global lists of content channels that arepublically shared. These can be organized by different factors, such ascreation date, title, or keyword, A user may follow the seeds of acontent channel to see a list of other content channels that are usableby them that contain the same seed. This seed can be any type of key,including a keyword or reference to a content selection or list. Theseother channels can be ordered by the weighting for that seed within thechannel.

It is also an embodiment of the present invention that a user may obtaina list of related channels, which would include channels that have seedsin common with the current channel. Also, two content channels can beconsidered to be more closely related based on the commonality ofcontent selections. That is, the more content selections two contentchannels have made in common, the more closely related.

Users may provide a reference to a public channel to another user, asshown in step 1038. The user may also send a reference to a contentselection, list, or category to another user.

The owner of a content channel may identify and/or view the historylists of selections made for one or more of the content channelsoriginated by the user for other users, as shown in step 1040. The ownerof a content channel may also see, or view, a master history list ofselections made for that content channel, as shown by step 1042. Thislist would be de-duplicated and could be ordered chronologically by whenthe selection was first made, or by the number of users for which thatselection was made.

A user may navigate through the content, or content assets for a contentchannel, as shown in step 1044. For example, selections that are notplayable by a user may be skipped during playback. These selectionscould be visible in lists and usable as seeds in content channels ownedby the user. There can also be an option to filter out selections thatare not accessible, either due to device restrictions oruser-qualifications, when viewing a list, as shown by step 1046. Astatus identifier may be generated based on the content assets, devicesand/or users. Sorting, or filtering may be performed based on the statusidentifier.

Following any desired filtering, authorized content sets are provided toa as shown in step 1050. The provision of content assets to a user mayinclude, for example, storing the content asset in memory, placing thecontent asset in a queue, indicating the content asset may be accessedby the user, and/or directly providing the content asset to a userdevice, typically via a user interface.

If additional content asset(s) are available, a determination is madewhether to provide the additional content asset(s), as shown in step1052. If so, the content asset is provided, as shown in step 1050 andline 1054. If there is no additional content set or the user does notwish to access additional content asset(s), a feedback determinationstep 1058 is reached, via line 1056.

If the user wishes to provide feedback, as shown in step 1058, thefeedback may be used as criteria for a content channel, as shown in step1004, via line 1060. If the user does not wish to provide feedback, theprocess 1000 ends, as shown in step 1070, reached via line 1062.

Similar to embodiments in which content channels may have separatehistory lists, or a common history list, feedback from each user may bemaintained separately for each user or could be added to a commonfeedback list to influence selections made for other users. The set ofusers authorized to add feedback to the common list may be restricted bythe owner of the content channel.

FIG. 1 shows a series of steps 1100 that can be used to modify sharedcontent channels according to yet another embodiment of the presentinvention. The steps 1100 may be stored on a suitable electronic storagemedium, such as a computer-readable medium, which may be non-transitory,or transitory, such as RAM. The steps 1100 may be object code, sourcecode, or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either local to the userdevice (FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG. 1, server104) and accessed as desired. Thus the steps 1100 may be considered amodule when stored and/or accessed and/or retrieved, regardless of thetype of storage medium.

The process 1100 begins, as shown in start step 1102. Criteria for acontent channel are established, as shown in step 1104. Content, whichmatches the criteria, is acquired for the content channel and providedto the user, as shown in step 1106.

A determination is made whether the content asset has been previouslyaccessed by the user, as shown in step 1108. For example, when a vieweraccesses/listens to and/or watches a content channel, the content assetthat is selected for that user can exclude any content assets that theuser has already accessed, as shown in step 1114, via line 1112.Furthermore, if the content asset has not been accessed, it is providedto the user, as shown in step 1118, via line 1116. Furthermore, contentassets may be excluded if the user has previously viewed the contentasset by another means other than a content channel, such as viewing thecontent asset through the results of a search. For example, if a userviewed a movie in a movie theater, that content can be excluded from therelevant content channel.

A user can also be given the option to see the content chosen for thecontent channel unmodified by their viewing history. This is useful inembodiments such as replaying a content channel to see the same contentasset again, such as to show the content asset to another user.

When a user would like to modify the settings of a content channel theyare using that they did not create, a new content channel can be createdthat references the other user's content channel, as shown in step 1120.Any changes that the user makes to their new content channel can then beapplied as a mask to the referenced base content channel. This willallow a user to customize the content selected when they use a channelwithout affecting other user's use of the channel, as shown in step1122.

Additional content is identified based on the first user, or creator'sselections, as shown in step 1124. This additional content is providedas part of the content channel, as shown in step 1126. There may also bea separate history list for each combination of content channel andviewer. Thus, when a viewer other than the owner gives feedback aboutthe fitness of a selection for a content channel, the feedback can bestored in a separate list that is specific to the combination of contentchannel and viewer.

The aggregation of feedback of all the users with respect to the seedlists may be used when choosing content assets for a channel. Theinfluence of feedback made by different users may be weighteddifferently, as shown in step 1128. For example feedback from thecontent channel's friends may be weighted higher than feedback fromother users.

It is also an embodiment of the present invention that the owner of acontent channel may allow modifications of the content channel byothers, as shown in step 1130. The privacy settings for which users canmodify a channel are typically different than those for who may access acontent channel. Also, the modifications may be stored in a mask, asshown in step 1131, reached via line 1135. If the channel is notmodified, content assets are provided to a user, as shown in step 1140,reached via line 1133.

Changes to a content channel by users other than the channel's owner maybe weighted differently than the seeds set up by the owner. The owner ofthe content channel should be able to control these weightings, as shownin step 1132.

Indeed, another embodiment of the present invention is that a user whomakes a modification to a content channel can be identified, as shown instep 1134, reached via line 1135. A user who modifies a content channelmay also have an authorization level, which depends on how muchinfluence the user will have on the modification of the content channel.For example, a user with a high authorization level can have ore fluencein the chan modification than a user with a low level of authorization.The authorization can be a number or other identifier associated with auser when the user logs on or accesses a content channel.

The content channel can be additionally modified, as shown in step 1136,which may be reached from step 1132 and/or step 1134, as describedherein and changes made to a content channel by users other than thechannel's owner may be kept separate and treated as a mask that users ofthe channel may turn on and off as they use the channel.

The content channel may then be made available to other users, as shownin step 1140. The content channel may also be used as a seed toestablish another content channel, as shown in step 1104, via line 1142.

The process 1100 ends, as shown by end step 1150.

FIG. 12 shows a series of steps 1200 that can be used to clone contentchannels according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.The steps 1200 may be stored on a suitable electronic storage medium,such as a computer-readable medium, which may be non-transitory, ortransitory, such as RAM. The steps 1200 may be object code, source code,or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either local to the user device(FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG. 1, server 104) andaccessed as desired. Thus the steps 1200 may be considered a module whenstored and/or accessed and/or retrieved, regardless of the type ofstorage medium.

The process 1200 begins, as shown in start step 1202. Seed referencesfor a content channel are established, as shown in step 1204. A firstcontent channel is established, as shown in step 1206. The first contentchannel is based on the seed references.

The first content channel may be cloned, or copied or duplicated, togenerate a second content channel, as shown in step 1208. The clonedcontent channel includes the properties of the first content channelfrom which it derived. For example, if a user wishes to create a newcontent channel, the user may start by cloning another content channel.The user will then have a content channel that is seeded the same as thesource channel. The user can then modify the seeds to their new contentchannel, including adding or deleting seeds or modifying the weightingof seeds.

The seeds for a cloned content channel (second content channel) mayinclude references to content that the owner does not have access to andwould not otherwise have been able to select as a seed. The secondcontent channel may be modified, as shown in step 1210. If a contentchannel being cloned (first content channel) has a reference to a listthat the clone's owner does not have access to see, the clone may keepthat reference so that any changes to the list are still reflected, asshown in step 1214. The clone may also create a new seed list withreferences to content included in the list. (There may be securityconcerns with cloning the references in the list as that would exposecontent in the list that the clone owner would not otherwise knowabout.)

The cloned content channel (second content channel) may be provided to auser, as shown in step 1216. The providing of the content channel mayinclude, providing a list of a content assets, or other identifyinginformation that identifies a content asset such that a user can decidewhether they wish to obtain more information about the content asset.The user may wish to provide feedback to the content assets identifiedin the content channel, as shown in step 1218. If the user providesfeedback, the feedback is used to establish seed references for a newfirst content channel, as shown in step 1204, reached via line 1220.

If the user does not wish to provide feedback, a weighting tag may beapplied to the cloned content channel (second content channel), as shownin step 1226, reached via line 1222. The cloned content channel may thenbe modified, based on the weightings, as shown in step 1228. Also, auser, or creator of a cloned content channel may establish privacyrights for themselves or other users of the content channel. Theseprivacy rights determine who is allowed to modify the seed list of thecontent channel and/or the right to clone the content channel.

The modified cloned content channel may then be provided to one or moreusers, as shown in step 1230.

The process 1200 ends, as shown by end step 1240.

Another embodiment of the present invention includes an owner of a listchanging the privileges of the list so that a content channel owner nolonger has permission to view that list. The list could be cloned atthat point into a seed list in the content channel and the reference tothe original list removed. A cloned channel typically has the samecriteria for picking content that the source channel did.

FIG. 13 shows a series of steps 1300 that use a user interface toimplement embodiments of the present invention. The steps 1300 may bestored on a suitable electronic storage medium, such as acomputer-readable medium, which may be non-transitory, or transitory,such as RAM. The steps 1300 may be object code, source code, or storedon a dedicated storage medium, either local to the user device (FIG. 1,device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG. 1, server 104) and accessedas desired. Thus the steps 1300 may be considered a module when storedand/or accessed and/or retrieved, regardless of the type of storagemedium.

The process 1300 begins, as shown in start step 1302. Seed references orsettings for a content channel are established, as shown in step 1304. Afirst content channel is established, as shown in step 1306, based onthe seeds and/or settings.

A user interface (UI) may be utilized to access a network and/or webinterface by a user to access a content channel, as shown in step 1308.Indeed, to maintain the simplicity of a device that uses contentchannels, access to and control of the details of a channel's settingscan be managed through a web interface to keep the device's interfacesimple and clean, as shown in step 1310. The UI of some devices islimited, thus making the management of minute details difficult on thosedevices. A web interface permits an easier to use alternative tomanaging the details of content channels. For example, typing on acomputer keyboard is easier than typing with a TV remote control. Also,some devices have limited character sets that a user can type with thatdevice, while a web interface can allow any Unicode character to beentered.

Furthermore, use of a UI permits normal web navigation to be used in themaintenance of content channels. Searches of content on the network maybe performed through a web interface, which allows for easier enteringof search criteria. The user can have results they like added to a listfor easy viewing with their device. The content may be provided to auser utilizing one or more user devices, as shown in step 1312. Anotherembodiment of the present invention is that a web interface may bedisplayed in a browser on a device that has a pointer, such as a mouse,for a device that does not have a pointer. This allows a different styleof interface to be provided that the user might find more convenient oreasier to use. For example, content assets can be re-ordered using a“drag-and-drop” technique.

The device used to display or output the content assets may be changed,as shown in step 1314. If the user device is changed, the provision ofcontent assets (step 1312) utilizes one or more other user devices, asshown by line 1316. The “on”, or operable device UI can concentrate onsimplicity while the web interface can be optimized for managing thedetails of the content channels. Additionally, a device with a webbrowser can allow the user to use the web interface on-device to managetheir content channel details, while still maintaining a simpleinterface for navigating and playing content channels. Otherwise, theprocess 1300 ends, as shown by end step 1320, via line 1318.

FIG. 14 shows a series of steps 1400 that can be used to manipulate ananonymous content channel according to yet another embodiment of thepresent invention. The steps 1400 may be stored on a suitable electronicstorage medium, such as a computer-readable medium, which may benon-transitory, or transitory, such as RAM. The steps 1400 may be objectcode, source code, or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either localto the user device (FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG.1, server 104) and accessed as desired. Thus the steps 1400 may beconsidered a module when stored and/or accessed and/or retrieved,regardless of the type of storage medium.

The process 1400 begins, as shown in start step 1402. Seed referencesfor a content channel are established, as shown in step 1404. A firstcontent channel is established, as shown in step 1406. The first contentchannel is based on the seed references. The current content may be usedto provide a list of related content, as shown in step 1408. The list ofrelated content may then be used to generate a related content channel,as shown in step 1410. An example of a related content channel is an“anonymous content channel”, which can be seeded by the current contentto provide a list of related content. Thus, content channels can becreated “on-the-fly” as needed by the system to provide various contentselections to the user. These content channels are deemed “anonymouscontent channels”.

A user may navigate to one or more anonymous content channels that areseeded by one or more current content selections or categories of acontent selection (1410). For example, there can be a menu item tonavigate to an anonymous content channel seeded by the current contentselection, or the category of the current selection. This navigation maybe done even if the current content selection is playing. The contentassets of the anonymous content channel may be provided to the user.Previously accessed content assets may be excluded from the anonymouscontent channel.

Since the anonymous channel is typically not created by a viewer, oruser who navigates to the channel, the user who navigates to such achannel will not be able to edit the criteria for the anonymous contentchannel, as shown in step 1412.

A determination may be made whether to maintain the anonymous contentchannel, as shown in step 1414. If the anonymous content channel is notmaintained, the anonymous channel is deleted, as shown in step 1420, vialine 1416. The anonymous content channel can be destroyed when the usernavigates away from it.

Alternatively, the seeds of the anonymous content channel may be saved,or stored for future access of the anonymous content channel, as shownin step 1422, via line 1418. Thus, the anonymous content channel storedor maintained in a storage location so that if the user navigates backto an anonymous content channel with the same seed(s), the contentchannel and/or seeds stored in history will be preserved, for futureuse. Furthermore, the seed content for an anonymous content channel mayonly be excluded from being selected for that channel if the user hasalready viewed it.

A viewer, user, of a content channel may provide feedback related tofitness of content for a content channel for an anonymous contentchannel, as shown in determination step 1424. If the user providesfeedback about the fitness of content selections for an anonymouscontent channel, the anonymous channel can be cloned to a new channelowned by the user that the feedback is then added to, or by establishingseed references for a content channel, as shown in step 1404, via line1426.

If the user does not provide feedback, the user can clone an anonymouscontent channel, as shown in step 1430, reached via line 1428. The usermay also create a new named content channel from a clone of an anonymouscontent channel they are viewing, as shown in step 1432.

The new content channel from the clone may be provided to the user, asshown in step 1434. The provision of content assets to a user mayinclude, for example, storing the content asset in memory, placing thecontent asset in a queue, indicating the content asset may be accessedby the user, and/or directly providing the content asset to a userdevice, typically via a user interface.

The process ends, as shown in step 1436.

FIG. 15 shows a series of steps 1500 that can be used to modify contentchannels according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.The steps 1500 may be stored on a suitable electronic storage medium,such as a computer-readable medium, which may be non-transitory, ortransitory, such as RAM. The steps 1500 may be object code, source code,or stored on a dedicated storage medium, either local to the user device(FIG. 1, device 112) or at a remote location, (FIG. 1, server 104) andaccessed as desired. Thus the steps 1500 may be considered a module whenstored and/or accessed and/or retrieved, regardless of the type ofstorage medium.

The process 1500 begins, as shown in start step 1502. Seed referencesfor a content channel are obtained, with functionality parameters, asshown in step 1504. Certain standard functionality can be accomplishedby creating a content channel with seed criteria designed for thefunctionality and allowing the system to use the same content channelmechanism to choose the content of interest and allow the user tonavigate and/or access the content assets.

One or more content channels are generated based on functionalityparameters of the seed references, as shown in step 1506. Specialcontent channels can be created “on-the-fly” as anonymous contentchannels as needed, or they may be pre-built for the user as a standardchannel. Content assets that a user chooses to access are identified, asshown in step 1508, and seed content based on the chosen content assetcan be generated based on the chosen content asset, as shown in step1510.

In an embodiment in which an anonymous content channel providesrecommendations tailored for a user, the seed content may be weighedbased on user action and/or a user rating, as shown in step 1512. Someor all of the identification of content (1508), generation of seedcontent (1510) and weighing of seed content, can be used to obtain seedreferences (1504) as shown by line 1513. The weighing may also be usedto rank the associated content asset. Recommendations can beaccomplished by choosing content assets that the user has previouslychosen to view as seed content. This can be further enhanced with otherinformation about the user's activity, such as creating seed weightedmore heavily based on ratings the user may have made. Furthermore, it isan embodiment of the present invention that when a content channel thatwas created for recommendations can be maintained between uses so theuser can continue navigating from the point where the user left off inthe content channel choices instead of starting from the beginning ofthe choices made by the recommendations channel.

A search for content may be performed that uses seed content as searchterms and/or user input, as shown in step 1514. The search results maybe used to obtain seed references (1504), as shown by line 1520. Searchresults can be accomplished by seeding a content channel with the user'ssearch terms and/or any weighting associated with the search terms.

Related content may be identified based on the seed content and/orsearch results, as shown in step 1516. Related content can beaccomplished through a content channel seeded with the base content orcategory. Special content channels may have hidden settings that theusers would not see. The content channel may be cloned, as shown in step1518. The cloned content channel may be stored in a memory and/or sharedwith other user, as shown in step 1524. Furthermore, the cloned channelmay be modified, as shown in step 1526. Also, the content channel may bedeemed restricted, which prohibits modification of the content channel.The modification of a content channel may be controlled based on anauthorization level of a user who wishes to modify the content channel.

A viewer, or user, of a content channel may provide feedback related tofitness of content for a content channel, as shown in determination step1530, which may be reached from the store/share step 1524, via line1525. Providing feedback on the fitness of selections for a contentchannel used for performing a search can be used as a method of furtherrefining the search. This is useful since the user does not need tomodify search terms to refine the search. Having a static standardcontent channel for recommendations allows the user to give effectivefeedback on the fitness of the content selections made asrecommendations. This feedback would then be stored in the standardcontent channel to influence future recommendations. If the userprovides feedback about the fitness of content selections for a contentchannel, the feed back may be used to obtain seed references, as shownin step 1504, via line 1532.

If the user does not provide feedback the content channel may beprovided to the user, as shown in step 1536, reached via line 1534. Theprovision of content to a user may include, for example, storing thecontent asset in memory, placing the content asset in a queue,indicating the content asset may be accessed by the user, and/ordirectly providing the content asset to a user device, typically via auser interface.

The process ends, as shown in step 1540.

Other various embodiments will now be described, as shown on the variousfigures herein.

One embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method forcreating a content channel. The method includes accessing a firstcontent channel and cloning the first content channel to produce asecond content channel. The second content channel includes one or moreseeds of the first content channel. One or more content assets areselected from a pool of content assets based on similarity between thecontent assets and the one or more seeds. An indication of the selectedone or more content assets is presented to a user. One or more of theseeds of the second content channel are modified to produce secondcontent channel seeds. Thus, a second content channel can be generatedusing a cloned first content channel. The seeds of the second contentcan then be modified.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to the methoddescribed above and also includes utilizing one or more of the secondcontent channel seeds to select additional content assets for the secondcontent channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the second content channel seeds includereferences to content assets that are not available to a user accessingthe second content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the references to content assets, whichare not available to a user accessing the second content channel, areused to select content assets for the second content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes establishing privacy rights,for a particular user, related to the first content channel forcontrolling the modification of the seed list.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes cloning the first contentchannel, to produce the second content channel, based on a change in theprivacy rights associated with the particular user. A second seed listis generated for use in the second content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the second content channel has the samecriteria for selecting content as the first content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the cloning step further includescopying a history of the first content channel copied to the secondcontent channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes modifying the second contentchannel, by an authorized user.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the modifying of the second contentchannel does not change the first content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes identifying one or more contentchannels with a user-generated name.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodfor using a content channel. The method includes establishing ananonymous content channel and selecting one or more content assets froma pool of content assets based on similarity between the content assetsand anonymous content channel seeds. An indication of the selected oneor more content assets is presented to a user of the anonymous contentchannel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes deleting the anonymous contentchannel following access of the anonymous content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes restricting modification of theanonymous content channel seeds.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes utilizing the anonymous contentchannel to provide related content assets.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above, wherein the anonymous content channel seedsinclude: a reference to a content asset and/or search term.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes storing the anonymous contentchannel for subsequent access.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes excluding previously accessedcontent assets selected from the anonymous content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes receiving user feedback for theanonymous content channel, cloning the anonymous content channel; andincorporating the user feedback in the cloned anonymous content channel.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention is directed to themethod described above and also includes identifying the anonymouscontent channel with a user-generated name.

It will be appreciated from the above that the invention may beimplemented as computer software, which may be supplied on a storagemedium or via a transmission medium such as a local-area network or awide-area network, such as the Internet. It is to be further understoodthat, because some of the constituent system components and method stepsdepicted in the accompanying Figures can be implemented in software, theactual connections between the systems components (or the process steps)may differ depending upon the manner in which the present invention isprogrammed. Given the teachings of the present invention providedherein, one of ordinary skill in the related art will be able tocontemplate these and similar implementations or configurations of thepresent invention.

It is to be understood that the present invention can be implemented invarious forms of hardware, software, firmware, special purposeprocesses, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the presentinvention can be implemented in software as an application programtangible embodied on a computer readable program storage device. Theapplication program can be uploaded to, and executed by, a machinecomprising any suitable architecture.

The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as theinvention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalentmanners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of theteachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to thedetails of construction or design herein shown, other than as describedin the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particularembodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all suchvariations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention.Although illustrative embodiments of the invention have been describedin detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is tobe understood that the invention is not limited to those preciseembodiments, and that various changes and modifications can be effectedtherein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope andspirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for using a content channel comprising:establishing an anonymous content channel; selecting one or more contentassets from a pool of content assets based on similarity between thecontent assets and anonymous content channel seeds; providing anindication of the selected one or more content assets to a user deviceof a user of the anonymous content channel, receiving user feedback forthe anonymous content channel; cloning the anonymous content channel;and incorporating the user feedback in the cloned anonymous contentchannel.
 2. A computer-implemented system for using a content channelcomprising: means for establishing an anonymous content channel; meansfor selecting one or more content assets from a pool of content assetsbased on similarity between the content assets and anonymous contentchannel seeds; means for providing an indication of the selected one ormore content assets to a user device of a user of the anonymous contentchannel; means for receiving user feedback for the anonymous contentchannel; means for cloning the anonymous content channel; and means forincorporating the user feedback in the cloned anonymous content channel.3. The computer-implemented system as claimed in claim 2, furthercomprising: means for deleting the anonymous content channel followingaccess of the anonymous content channel.
 4. The computer-implementedsystem as claimed in claim 2, further comprising: means for restrictingmodification of the anonymous content channel seeds.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented system as claimed in claim 2, further comprising:means for utilizing the anonymous content channel to provide relatedcontent assets.
 6. The computer-implemented system as claimed in claim2, wherein the anonymous content channel seeds include: a reference to acontent asset and/or search term.
 7. The computer-implemented system asclaimed in claim 2, further comprising: means for storing the anonymouscontent channel for subsequent access.
 8. The computer-implementedsystem as claimed in claim 2, further comprising: means for excludingpreviously accessed content assets selected from the anonymous contentchannel.
 9. The computer-implemented system as claimed in claim 2,further comprising: means for identifying the anonymous content channelwith a user-generated name.